Cal's defense was feeling pretty good about itself heading into its game at USC.

Nothing like giving up the most yards in nine years to get a dose of reality.

The Bears had the mother of all wake-up calls against the Trojans, yielding 602 yards of offense during a 48-14 loss last Saturday. It was the most total yards a Cal opponent has amassed since Washington State put up 605 in 2001.

The performance prompted a relevant question: Did the Bears just have a bad day or were their excellent defensive numbers heading in possibly a product of inferior competition?

Cal will get a chance to answer that question today against Arizona State.

"That's not who we are," safety Chris Conte said. "It really was just a combination of various things that kind of built up and amounted to not a good performance. We can't let that get to us. We have to bounce back and respond and say, 'That's not us.' Really not question ourselves but really just be confident that we still are a very talented defense and can perform like we did in past weeks."

The Bears entered the USC game ranked eighth nationally in total defense. In four of their first five games, they held their opponent to one touchdown or less.

But one of those games was against UC Davis, a Football Championship Subdivision opponent. Another was against UCLA, which has the 99th-ranked offense in the country. Colorado, which Cal beat 52-7, is ranked 78th in total offense.

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The good news for the Bears is it shut down Arizona's potent, balanced offense. Arizona State runs the same base offense as the Wildcats.

"Our defense just didn't play up to expectations (against USC)," Cal defensive end Cameron Jordan said. "We thought we were a great defense, but we had a bump in the road. It really shows you what kind of defense you have to be. We have to advance forward."

Note: Next Saturday's game at Oregon State will be televised by Fox College Sports and begin at 12:30 p.m.